Giving thanks for our bountiful [Fall 2011] anime

[blkmage]

ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!!

This season's shows are upon us and here are this week's new shows.

Times in JST.

TUESDAY September 27
0200 - Shinryaku!? Ika Musume (TV Tokyo)

SATURDAY October 1
1730 - Bakuman. 2 (NHK Education)
2330 - C Cubed (AT-X)
2330 - Working'!! (Tokyo MX)

SUNDAY October 2
0000 - Fate/Zero (Tokyo MX)
0100 - Majikoi (tvk)
0258 - Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (MBS)
0845 - Cross Fight B-Daman (TV Tokyo)
1055 - Hunter x Hunter (TV Asahi)
1730 - Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle (NHK Education)

[blkmage]

No Crunchyroll updates yet except for Squid Girl (which has already started), but Sentai has licensed Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Persona 4 the Animation, and Majikoi for streaming on The Anime Network.

And a reminder that Fate/Zero will be starting tomorrow at 8:30 PST on what appears to be Nico Nico Douga proper (that is, not niconico.com, but nicovideo.jp). Remember that Nico Nico Douga (in both versions) is basically reverse-Crunchyroll, in that everyone gets to watch it immediately for seven days before it disappears behind a paywalled archive.

Also, I want to try something new this season, which is starting threads for shows that you want to talk about. It doesn't have to be immediate, but maybe after the first episode or two, if you want to talk about a show, make a thread for it.

EDIT: spoke too soon, it looks like CR is starting its lineup rollout with HxH

[MasterDias]

Funimation has picked up Guilty Crown and will stream it as it airs.

I kind of expected to hear of more from Crunchyroll by this point.

[blkmage]

Here's what's up for this week.

MONDAY October 3
0900 - Tamayura ~Hitose~ (AT-X)

TUESDAY October 4
0130 - Kimi to Boku. (TV Tokyo)
0315 - Sengoku Paradise: Kiwami (TV Tokyo)

WEDNESDAY October 5
0059 - Chihayafuru (NTV)
0105 - Maken-ki! (Teletama)
0200 - Mashiro-iro Symphony -The color of lovers- (TV Asahi)

FRIDAY October 7
0130 - Persona 4 (MBS)
0155 - Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (TBS)

SATURDAY October 8
0105 - Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2 (Teletama)
0130 - Shakugan no Shana III (Tokyo MX)
0200 - Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam (CBC)

SUNDAY October 9
0220 - Ben-To (TV Asahi)
1700 - Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (MBS)
2300 - Mirai Nikki (Nico Nico Douga)

[MasterDias]

Crunchyroll got You and Me/Kimi to Boku for those of you who were waiting for that. It looks like they aren't announcing shows early anymore.

Anyway...

The Hunter X Hunter remake is okay. The first episode felt a little rushed, especially the first half. It's been too long since I've read the manga to really compare it. I doubt I'll follow this. Nice orchestral score though.

Bakuman 2 is Bakuman 2.

Phi Brain: God's Puzzle is competently produced and (surprisingly) well animated for what it is. It could have potential, despite some inherent silliness in the plot/dialogue ("those poor unhappy puzzles" lolwut). I'll stick around for at least a few more episodes and wait for more characters and stuff to be introduced.
I think I like the female lead. She actually contributed in getting through the maze.

[goldenspines]

*marks calendar for the 4th and the 7th*

[blkmage]

YEAH NEW ANIME

C^3 isn't really bad per se, but it's dull and it's the same thing again. Nope.

Fate/Zero

MajiKoi was actually surprisingly decent and had a relatively low fanservice quotient for its genre. Of course, that could change (I mean, that trailer), but I'll stick around for at least another week.

Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere was like MajiKoi except in the other direction with the addition of being really weird and making no sense. NOPE.

Phi Brain was something I wanted to give a shot because of Sato Junichi, but the actual episode didn't do it for me. I guess I'll wait for his other show.

Kimi to Boku was as enjoyable as I remembered.

[Neane]

Here's what's up for this week.

MONDAY October 3
0900 - Tamayura ~Hitose~ (AT-X)

TUESDAY October 4
0130 - Kimi to Boku. (TV Tokyo)
0315 - Sengoku Paradise: Kiwami (TV Tokyo)

WEDNESDAY October 5
0059 - Chihayafuru (NTV)
0105 - Maken-ki! (Teletama)
0200 - Mashiro-iro Symphony -The color of lovers- (TV Asahi)

FRIDAY October 7
0130 - Persona 4 (MBS)
0155 - Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (TBS)

SATURDAY October 8
0105 - Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2 (Teletama)
0130 - Shakugan no Shana III (Tokyo MX)
0200 - Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam (CBC)

SUNDAY October 9
0220 - Ben-To (TV Asahi)
1700 - Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (MBS)
2300 - Mirai Nikki (Nico Nico Douga)

I guess I only have a couple of days. I will join you in the Let's Watch of Mirai Nikki if you are going to have one.

[Nate]

So is this the thread to talk about the Persona 4 anime or not?

Because I'm downloading episode 1 as I type this and I wanna know where to go to talk about it when I'm done watching it.

[mechana2015]

I know I'm gonna be watching that too...so maybe a new thread is in order for it?

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Aaaand watching Persona 4, which you can do freely and legally by registering at the Anime Network, happens to be just like playing Persona 4. This is not a criticism. The music is the same (which is awesome, cause it's great), the "other" characters do all the talking, the Burning Up's are there...you even get the main character's stats as the eye catch. Also, some of the character interactions just feel like building social links.

[blkmage]

It seems like a lot of people are watching it, so yeah, someone should probably make a thread.

Having not played P4, I thought the first episode was pretty stylish in terms of some of the visuals and definitely the music. There are a few things that looked really video game-y, like when each day changes and the sweatdrops.

Chihayafuru was another show that I really liked the style of.

Mashiro-iro Symphony, on the other hand, was kinda bland.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai was decent enough to continue on.

[MightiMidget]

I think Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere would have amused me if it would have been clean, but there was no sense I could find and had too much fanservice/fanservice-potential for me to waste my time in following it any further than episode 1. Ho-hum, oh well.

[blkmage]

Good news: Bandai is streaming Gundam AGE with English subs.
Bad news: It's region-locked to Southeast Asia.

[blkmage]

And the final week of new shows is upon us.

MONDAY October 10
1820 - Chibi Devi! (NHK-E)

FRIDAY October 14
0045 - UN-GO (Fuji TV)
0115 - Guilty Crown (Fuji TV)

SUNDAY October 15
0030 - Ad Lib Anime Kenkyuusho (BS Fuji)

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I think Last Exile was pushed back a week, so we've still got it coming up in a few days.

It'll be the week Funimation goes, "LOOKY! WE GOT THE SIMULCASTS, TOO!"

[goldenspines]

Friday? D: So far away. I've been kind of disappointed with the new season's series so far. I'm placing my hope with Guilty Crown and UN-GO.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Guilty Crown was kind of disappointing, but interesting enough for me to continue watching. Slashing the mech with the rock-sword thing was pretty awesome, but it also had lot of "eh" parts to it.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Guilty Crown was kind of disappointing, but interesting enough for me to continue watching. Slashing the mech with the rock-sword thing was pretty awesome, but it also had lot of "eh" parts to it.

Yeah, I think the first episode used its cliches in a particularly unexciting way. Agreed that the end fight scene was cool. I wasn't impressed with the animation overall.

Also, "Shu. Please...Use me."

OK.

On a more general note: that lonely boy meets flaky girl intro is played out. I grow weary of it. Two shows stand out in my mind for doing this thing well: Eureka Seven because it executed it so well and Eden of the East because it reversed the gender roles.

But yeah, this season has had some good first episodes. GC's is not one of them.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Yeah, I think the first episode used its cliches in a particularly unexciting way. Agreed that the end fight scene was cool. I wasn't impressed with the animation overall.

I actually thought the animation was pretty nice, barring the poor CGI, but I did think the choreography for stuff like, say, Gai beating up the thugs was pretty poor.

Also, "Shu. Please...Use me."

Tetsurou Araki has clearly been watching a certain Penguin-like show this season.

On a more general note: that lonely boy meets flaky girl intro is played out. I grow weary of it. Two shows stand out in my mind for doing this thing well: Eureka Seven because it executed it so well and Eden of the East because it reversed the gender roles.

I think what really killed it for the show was just how there was nothing about the characters to like. Sure, Renton might have been whiny, but we also got some great moments of him early on. This kid just is bland and boring and the girl is oh lol I'm spacy.

One thing that really bugged me the entire time was how close it was to being Code Geass.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

I want to watch something this season still, as it's airing. But I can't decide. ^^;

[MasterDias]

What? Were we watching the same episode?
Guilty Crown's animation (and, well, production values in general) was spectacular. I think these are the first complaints I've seen about the animation. Although, I probably need to watch it again on a different player. Funimation's video quality was kind of derpy in the action scenes.

I liked it the best of the two noitaminA shows. Un-Go was interesting, but had a fairly unexciting mystery.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

One thing that really bugged me the entire time was how close it was to being Code Geass.

You'll have to explain that one =).

I want to watch something this season still, as it's airing. But I can't decide. ^^]If I could only watch one show this season, it would probably be Fate/Zero. Gundam AGE and Mirai Nikki come in close behind it. I'm also looking forward to Un-GO and the new Last Exile in the coming days, though.

Funimation's video quality was kind of derpy in the action scenes.

This could be what I'm experiencing; though I really did think that, say, Gai beating up the thugs was just poorly animated.

[blkmage]

Yeah, the 720p version of Guilty Crown looks fantastic. I think that Guilty Crown turned out pretty much how I expected it to. Again, art and animation are excellent and I really liked the music. The characters are kinda meh and the story and setting feel like a blend of Code Geass and Eden of the East, but these things can improve.

I agree that UN-GO's mystery was not amazing, but hopefully, it's one of those first episode one-offs. Everything else is interesting enough although the sidekick is kinda wut.

I guess I'll throw in something about Shana III, which is that I didn't expect them to just skip a bunch of light novels. We're in the part that everyone wants to see, but it's kinda weird that they just decided to not do any of the stuff in between. And they even had an opportunity to fill in some of the gaps with the OVA, but nope. I can only hope that this means less Kazumi.

[MasterDias]

I guess I'll throw in something about Shana III, which is that I didn't expect them to just skip a bunch of light novels. We're in the part that everyone wants to see, but it's kinda weird that they just decided to not do any of the stuff in between. And they even had an opportunity to fill in some of the gaps with the OVA, but nope. I can only hope that this means less Kazumi.

Unless I'm mistaken, I thought the only actual numbered light novels they skipped were X (the Great War prequel side-story) and XV (which I think was mainly used to introduce various other Flame Hazes) and that the main issue was that the previous Shana adaptations removed/toned down foreshadowing to THE plot twist.

[blkmage]

Ah, okay. I knew about the tweeeeeest beforehand, but I wasn't sure exactly how much ground the anime covered, because it didn't seem like two seasons would cover that many volumes and I thought that a big chunk of the second season was filler. But if that's how the transition/reveal happened in the novels, then that's really weird.

[TheBigSpeigs]

Apparently Funimation has struck a deal with Nico Nico America to stream Guilty Crown, Last Exile, etc.

The link is here: http://www.funimation.com/rojas/blog/funimation-entertainment-and-niconico-inc-forge-us-partnership/865961

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

You'll have to explain that one =)

I am assuming you are not sarcastic, so, it's a world with oppression(even dividing conquered regions up by number) where a young schoolboy find a mysterious girl who can help him fight The Evil Empire with a power only she can give him. Also, 'dem robots.

[quote]This could be what I'm experiencing]Yeah, I'm guessing that the fight with Gai and the thugs was just because Hulu wasn't working so I had to watch it in the Funimation player in 360p.

[blkmage]

I agree that the occupation by a foreign power and their KILL THE NEIGHBOURHOOD thing is kinda heavy handed and the ragtag indigenous terrorist/freedom fighter group also adds to the Geassness of it. But I think that the show's tone in general is a lot closer to Eden of the East's nation in malaise sort of thing than Geass' pizza making robots and cat chases. Even the focal point of the conflicts is likely to be different, with Geass taking the LELOUCH GENIUS TACTICS route and this with the pull a weapon out of a girl route.

The production is definitely the strongest thing going for it so far, but I mean, at least for the first episode, the story and world setup were pretty much what I was expecting once I read the premise.

[blkmage]

Not gonna watch the new Last Exile, but I will say that the OP is surefine. Maaya Sakamoto (one of my favourite singers) backed by school food punishment (one of my favourite bands) is something that would never have crossed my mind, but they did it.

Read someone's notes on the Guilty Crown Q&A at NYCC. Highlights include: they are going for deliberate GITS/Eden of the East influences and not deliberate Geass similarities (which are because of the shared staff), Inori's design is about dem armpits, they asked redjuice to design hot characters, and there will be school life stuff.